Charles F. Stanley - The Spirit-Filled Life: Discover the Joy of Surrendering to the Holy Spirit

ALSO BY CHARLES STANLEY

How to Reach Your Full Potential for God

In Step with God

Landmines in the Path of the Believer

When the Enemy Strikes

Charles Stanleys Handbook for Christian Living

The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible

The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Daily Bible

10 Principles for Studying Your Bible

The Blessings of Brokenness

Discover Your Destiny

Eternal Security

Finding Peace

The Gift of Forgiveness

God Has a Plan for Your Life

How to Handle Adversity

How to Keep Your Kids on Your Team

How to Let God Solve Your Problems

How to Listen to God

Living in the Power of the Holy Spirit

Our Unmet Needs

The Source of My Strength

Stuck in Reverse

Success Gods Way

Winning the War Within

2014 by Charles F. Stanley

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE. The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation. 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

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Scripture quotations marked NKJV are from THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION. 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Some names have been fictionalized for protection of privacy.

Previously published as The Wonderful Spirit-Filled Life

The Wonderful Spirit-Filled Life ISBN 978-0-84079-1-412 (HC)

The Wonderful Spirit-Filled Life ISBN 978-0-78527-7-477 (TP)

How to Live a Wonderful Spirit-Filled Life ISBN 0-7852-8693-4 (VE)

ISBN 978-0-5291-0168-6 (eBook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014934468

ISBN 978-1-4002-0615-5

14 15 16 17 18 RRD 6 5 4 3 2 1

This book is lovingly dedicated to the members of the First Baptist Church, Atlanta

CONTENTS

I am grateful to my son, Andy, and his wife, Sandra, for their editorial assistance.

This book was originally called The Wonderful Spirit-Filled Life. I didnt like the title the first time I heard it. After all, life isnt always joyful or easyeven for those who are filled with the Spirit. The apostle Paul is proof of that. But the Spirit-filled life is both wonderful and worthwhileespecially when compared to the alternative.

I know all about the alternativeof trying to live for God in my own strength. I spent the early years of my Christian life struggling terribly. Call it carnal; call it fleshly; call it whatever you wish, but my life was anything but wonderful.

In fact, these struggles are what motivated me to write a book about the Spirit-filled life. Ive known the pain and frustration of trying to live the Christian life by my own devices. Perhaps you have as well. Maybe youve tried to please God but have found only discouragement, failure, or burnout. Friend, I understand how you feel. But I want you to know that Ive also experienced the absolute joy and satisfaction of relying on the unlimited power, wisdom, and love of the Holy Spirit. And the good news is you can too.

In preparing to write this book I read everything I could get my hands on that had to do with the Holy Spirit. You will find several of these sources noted throughout the pages of this volume. Books on the Holy Spirit generally fall into two categories. They are either highly experiential, with great application but little illumination on the biblical text; or they are purely doctrinal, with little to carry you through on Monday morning when the storms of life arise. This is not a criticism. These writers have accomplished exactly what they set out to do. Praise God for the motivation and insight we gain through the testimony of others. Where would we be without the men and women who labor diligently to discover how all the parts fit together?

The Spirit-Filled Life is my attempt to join experience with doctrine. This idea is nothing new. Luke did it when he wrote Acts. There we find the experience of the early church supported by apostolic sermons, quotes from the Savior, and references to the Old Testament. It is a lesson in theology presented in the form of a narrative.

You will notice that some of my conclusions are slightly out of the mainstream of evangelical thought. I have done my best to support these conclusions textually without turning this book into a commentary.

Im not sure what role this book will play in your pursuit of a Spirit-filled life. I do know that many years ago a faithful man of God wrote a book about his quest, and it turned my life upside down. After I read only a portion of his testimony, God opened my eyes to the reality of the Spirit-filled life. I havent been the same since.

I write with the hope that this book will do for someone what that book did for me back in 1964. If that is the case, it will have been well worth the effort.

Dennis chuckled to himself as he read the bumper sticker on the car in front of him: He who dies with the most toys wins. He had seen and heard the expression plenty of times, and he always thought it was funny. But as he sat there staring at the car in front of him, the irony of his own situation began to sink in.

At no point in his life had he ever consciously subscribed to the philosophy represented by that bumper sticker. On the contrary, as a Christian, he was diametrically opposed to an existence characterized by materialism. But as he thought about it, he realized that an outsider who watched him for any length of time might conclude that his ultimate pursuit in life was the accumulation of the newest and most high-tech toys. That was not to say that he didnt want to be a good father and husband. But somehow those values were not the driving force in his life anymorenot the way they were in the beginning. In fact, lately he had noticed that several areas of his original belief system had taken a backseat to the worldly priorities he was now pursuing. What was happening?

Making his way up the exit ramp, he thought back to that night on the beach when, as a college student, he trusted Christ as his Savior. It was so real, so significant. His decision that night affected every facet of his life. He remembered the intensity with which he communicated his newfound faith to his fraternity brothers. Church was not a duty then. It was a joy. It was something he looked forward to each week.